A British bloke could face up to five years in Jail in Kyrgyzstan after comparing a local delicacy to a horse penis.
Gold mine worker Michael Mcfeat – who works for Toronto-based Centerra Gold posted the comment on Facebook apparently as a joke, but it’s fair to say his colleagues didn’t find it too funny.
Kyrgyzstan’s interior ministry said his remarks actually caused a temporary strike at the mine.
Mcfeat had written in a Facebook post that his fellow workers from the country were queuing up for their ‘special delicacy’, which was in fact a traditional horse sausage known as chuchuk.
He has now been charged with racial hatred charges – for which the sentence can be between three and five years in prison under Kyrgyz law.
Mcfeat later apologised for his post, writing on Facebook:
I would like to take the opportunity to sincerely appologise [sic] for the comment I made on here about the kygyz people and horses penis. I truly never meant to offened anyone and im truly sorry as it was never my intension [sic].
Horse meat is a popular delicacy in Kyrgyzstan and neighbouring Kazakhstan, so they take this stuff pretty seriously…
A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We are in contact with the local authorities after a British national was detained in Kyrgyzstan and are ready to provide consular assistance.”
This all does all seem a bit ridiculous. Hopefully common sense will prevail and it can all be resolved, without resorting to a lengthy prison sentence.
